Very well could be. What drivers are you currently using? Also, if you wouldn't mind, could you fill out your system specs in the User CP? Don't forget to make sure "Show Others" or whatever box is checked.

i have that issue on some older games and Metro 2033 had to update Direct X after which the issue was gone. Update Direct X via microsofts site and see what happens if that dosent work then consider an RMA

and yea im on the same install for the last year and still had it happen dosent mean it wont fix the fucking issue and tadaaaa its a bit of a hey lets try this before i rma my gpu and cant game for 2 months senario not that hard to download run the direct x runtime and see if anything changes. We are all using windows for the most part and windows tends to fuck itself up fairly often without any help lol.

incorrect it is a core problem. memory artifacts are almost always red/grey/green and more square in shape. it seems to me the core got damaged during use probably from heat.

100% agreed. it does looks close to a bad driver or DX install but it is not. im 99%sure your core got overheated or was a bad unit from the get go

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Actually come to think of it I have had my 4870X2 error like this with high core speeds, even though it plows through 3DMark anyway. However on my 5770's and 4850 I do get artifacts like this with high ram clocks.
Of course, there are some scattered black dots usually with memory issues. BTW, tell Red I said hello.